Water transfer from a stream upgrade without electrical pumps

[streamgenie]

I am trying to develop a means of directing a small amount of water from a river or stream to an experimental stream bed tray that attempts to replicate the selected waterway flow and substrate. It is basically a flow through system where the water is drawn from the river to the tray and then returned to the river. The main intent is to allow for the colonization of aquatic insects in the substrate of the experimental system.
The problem:
*The experimental system must be located on the bank of the river and is approx 6-8 feet above the surface of the water
*It is a remote site so there is no electricity available for standard pumps
*The means of water transfer needs to allow for natural drift of subsurface aquatic insects to pass through the system unharmed

 

[psmart]

Can you use an intake/diversion point further upsteam (6-8' higher), and let gravity do the work?

 

[streamgenie]

I thought about letting gravity do the work but the stream in question is very low gradient (western Ohio) and that would require an extremely long system.

 

[psmart]

How about a solar-powered archimedes screw?

 

[psmart]

Try this google search for some interesting pictures:

http://images.google.com/images?q=archimedes+screw

 

[SteveWag]

How about a ram?

Steve

 

[MikeHalloran]

The ram makes more sense because it will run 24/7.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[civilperson]

Waterwheel will lift water or turn screw to push water.

 

[streamgenie]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I had thought about the archimedes screw but was concerned with bug mortality. If the tolerance between the screw and pipe is small then it probably won't matter. I would like to use a solar powered pump but $$ is the issue. The ram is interesting and worth some further investigation. Thanks again.

 

[psmart]

An Archimedes screw can be made with a coil of tubing, so there is nothing that would hurt the bugs. It doesn't require any moving parts, other than the rotation of the entire assembly.

 

[MikeHalloran]

But if the pump stops at night, does that not allow the replicated pseudo- waterway to drain and dry out?



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[semo]

A waterwheel with scoops instead of vanes sounds like the best idea to me. A ram requires a head to cause the waterhammer to drive the small amount of water up the column. With little or no hammer, you will get little or no water pumped. It also must flow through a flap valve and piping which could cause mortality.

The wheel could lift the water and organisms with little or minor contact.

 

[ACtrafficengr]

Lehman's (

http://www.lehmans.com),

a catalog that caters to off-grid homesteaders and the Amish & Mennonite communities, have stream-powered pumps that may work. Even if they can't help, it's worth a perusal. There's lots of neat stuff in there. Everything from goat-milking pails to solar-powered electronics.

A sling pump may work, but it provides a pulsed flow. You would probably want it to pump into a storage tank to even out the flow rate.

http://www.al.gov.bc.ca/resmgmt/publist/500Series/590305-8.pdf

"...students of traffic are beginning to realize the false economy of mechanically controlled traffic, and hand work by trained officers will again prevail." - Wm. Phelps Eno, ca. 1928

"I'm searching for the questions, so my answers will make sense." - Stephen Brust

 

[streamgenie]

So far it looks like the sling pump may be the best option. The only concern is if the intake is big enough to effectively capture drifting aquatic bugs. I'm also thinking about a solar system that can pump during the day and also store enough energy in a battery to run the pump at night. Could be costly though. I need for the system to run 24/7. Appreciate all of the suggestions and if anyone comes up with any more ideas, let me know. Thanks.

 

[MikeHalloran]

Or you could use a section of the real stream bed, in the real stream bed, and lift it out of the water and up to bank level for study when you like, e.g. using a small scale "Falkirk Wheel". You could rotate it with stored solar power, or conscripted student labor.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[dik]

Early popular mechanics diy books had method of constructing a hydraulic ram... you might try a search or dig up an early pm book

Dik

 

[bltseattle]

You may be able to use a siphon to lift water a short distance depending on how much water and how fast you want it. I have set these up using a 25ft garden hose to lift water about 8 ft by making sure that the "downhill" side of the siphon is a little longer than the "uphill" side of the siphon. If it works it would be inexpensive and semi-simple to setup, compared to a machine/pump.

For a discussion of the principle see

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/phy00/phy00137.htm

(particularly the last post in the thread)

 

[civilperson]

A siphon only will move water to a lower elevation, not to a "longer" downhill length. The inlet must be above the outlet in relative elevation.

 

[dik]

Check the link

http://www.lifewater.ca/ram_pump.htm